This invention relates generally to safety apparatus and more particularly to a dual connection lanyard for securement to structural components of a building to protect workers thereon from falling.
Due to the enactment of various safety laws, persons working at elevated positions, e.g., on steel construction beams of a building as it is erected, are required to be protected against falls. One common approach to achieve that end is by the use of a safety belt or harness which is worn by the worker and which is arranged to be connected to a fixed anchor point. To that end the belt or harness includes a D-ring or some other metal loop fixedly mounted on it in the center of the portion located at the worker's back. The D-ring is arranged to be "tied off" (connected), via a lanyard, to a fixed supporting member (the "anchor point"). The anchor point may be any fixed portion, e.g. an I-beam, of the building. Thus, once the worker is tied off should he/she fall off of the structure he/she will be prevented from falling to the ground.
While prior art lanyards are generally suitable for their intended purpose of preventing the worker from falling, they never the less suffer from some drawbacks. For example, prior art lanyards limit or restrict the movement of the worker to a small working area contiguous with the location of the anchor point. Moreover, prior art lanyards do not provide means to enable the worker to be protected from a fall when the worker disconnects himself/herself from one anchor point to connect himself/herself to another anchor point, e.g., an anchor point at a different location.